Ash Wednesday / Lent

Today, we mark the beginning of the season of Lent with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. During this special time in the Church’s year, we are invited to reflect, pray and prepare our hearts for the joy of Easter. The ashes we receive on our foreheads remind us to turn back to God, to say sorry for the times we have not made loving choices, and to try our best to follow Jesus more closely. Lent is a season of kindness, prayer and generosity, where we think about how we can care for others and grow in our faith.

Caritas — Project Compassion

This Lent, we are invited to Unite Against Poverty with Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion. This year is especially significant as we celebrate the Jubilee Year - a time of renewal and solidarity.

Project Compassion 2025 shares three stories from around the world. We meet Toefuata'iga - (Toy-foo-ah-tah-ing-ah) a young student from Samoa who faced severe water shortages at her school. Thanks to Caritas Australia and the generosity of supporters like our school and parish community, her school now has a 10,000 L water tank improving hygiene and allowing the teachers to prioritise education.

We get to know Lam from Vietnam, born with short stature, Lam faced social exclusion and limited employment opportunities – through the I-SHINE program, Lam is now a freelance graphic designer.

And we meet Irene from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who faced immense challenges after losing her father to war and raising her children in poverty. With support from Caritas Australia, Irene received vocational training in sewing and farming and can now support her whole family.

Watch the Introduction to Project Compassion film - be inspired by 3 powerful stories of resilience and strength, and learn the impact that our support can have on vulnerable communities around the world.

World Day of Prayer — Friday 7th March

On Friday, we join with Christians around the world to acknowledge World Day of Prayer – a global movement that brings people together in prayer and action for peace and justice. This year’s theme, “I Made You Wonderful”, comes from Psalm 139:14, reminding us that each person is wonderfully made in the image of God and worthy of dignity, love and respect. We are invited to stand in prayerful solidarity, praying for peace and justice. As a Catholic school, we encourage our students and families to take a moment to pray, asking God to guide us all in building a world where every person is valued and treated with compassion and respect.

Reconciliation Sacrament Dates

The Reconciliation Preparation Program is now underway, and we keep all the children participating in our prayers during this special time. As they continue their journey of faith, they are learning about God’s boundless love, mercy and forgiveness. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to grow closer to God and understand the importance of saying sorry and seeking reconciliation with others. We kindly remind all candidates to remember to bring their preparation booklets with them each week when they attend Mass.

Thank You

Thank you to those that were able to join us for our Staff and Catechist Commissioning Mass - a special celebration where we come together in faith to ask for God’s blessing on those who guide and nurture our students. 

A very special thank you to our Kinder families who were able to join us. During the Mass, Father Francis blessed our youngest learners, asking for God’s protection and guidance as they begin this new chapter. 

2025 Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of Hope’

As we continue on the sacred journey of the 2025 Jubilee Year, themed Pilgrims of Hope, we are invited to deepen our faith, renew our hearts, and walk together in hope. This Jubilee is a time of grace, calling us to prayer, reflection and acts of love and mercy. Let us unite as a school community, embracing the spirit of pilgrimage in our daily lives, seeking Christ in one another, and trusting in God’s endless love. May this year be a time of renewal and blessings for all.

Father in heaven, 
May the faith you have given us in your Son, Jesus Christ, our brother, 
and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, 
renew our commitment to a life as joyful and humble pilgrims of hope. 
May the grace of the Jubilee strengthen in us the spirit of faith, 
so that our works may always be rooted in you. 
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Prayer Intentions

We pray for all families in our school community who are in need of our prayers.
We pray for the needs of our country and our world. 

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
St John the Evangelist, pray for us.

Kylie Stephens
Religious Education Coordinator

I invite Catholics in the Diocese of Wollongong, especially those in the Illawarra Region, to attend this Ecumenical Event, inviting others so as to hear the Gospel proclaimed anew. In embracing our Jubilee Year of Hope, consider attending Hope for the Illawarra on 28–29 March in Wollongong.

Main Events:

Friday 28 March — An Evening for Youth (7pm)
Saturday 29 March — A Morning Event for Children (11am)
Saturday 29 March — A Celebration with Dr Michael Youssef (7pm)

For more information go to: https://www.hopefortheilawarra.com.au/about-1

Bishop Brian Mascord

The Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L) framework is implemented at St John’s to help create vibrant and positive learning environments in which all students are supported to reach their full potential.

PB4L is an evidenced-based, organisational framework for behaviour support to enhance respectful relationships and engagement of students in their learning. It encompasses a broad range of systemic and individualised strategies and agreed practices for achieving important social and academic outcomes for all students.

All staff at our school work together to explicitly teach, affirm and correct agreed behaviour expectations across school-wide, classroom and non-classroom settings based on our school rules that underpin who we are and what we do at St John’s.

Students at St John’s follow explicit behaviour expectations based on the following school rules:

• BE RESPECTFUL
• BE RESPONSIBLE
• BE SAFE

Week 4

Dates for Cross Country and Athletics Carnivals

• 24 Mar— SJD Cross Country Carnival
• 6 May — Diocesan Cross Country Carnival
• 24 Jun — SJD Athletics Carnival
• 12 Aug — South Coast Regional Athletics
• 19 Aug — Diocesan Athletics Selection Trials
  
  

Gala Day Dates for Stage 2 and Stage 3 Students – 2025

• 10 April — Legends Gala Day, Rugby League Boys & League Tag Girls
• 24 June — Netball Gala Day, unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict with our Athletics Carnival.
• 29 August — Soccer Gala Day
• 18 September — JUNIOR Basketball Gala Day
• 19 September — SENIOR Basketball Gala Day
• 16 October — SENIOR Cricket Gala Day
• 11 November — Catholic Dragon Tag

St John's Primary Swimming Carnival

Congratulations to our SJD Swimming Carnival Age Champions and Champion House.

Age Champions

Champion House

1st: McCabe
2nd: Ward
3rd: MacKillop
4th: Joseph

South Coast Regional Carnival

Congratulations to the students below who attended the South Coast Region Carnival yesterday. Despite the very challenging wet weather conditions all students were great ambassadors for our school and participated in the carnival with a great spirit and a high level of determination. 

Special Congratulations to Brody Pederson who came overall second in 11 yrs Age Champion.

Diocesan Selection Swimming Trials - 7 March @ Corrimal Pool

Congratulations to Brody P (50m Backstroke, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, and 200m Medley) and Owen S (50m Freestyle and 50m Backstroke) on qualifying for the Diocesan Swimming Trials this Friday.

St John’s wishes Brody and Owen best of luck in their events.

Congratulations

Harper B has been selected to represent Wollongong as a part of the Mackillop Touch Trials to be held in Wagga on Friday, 13 June.

Odin F has been selected to attend the MacKillop hockey trials to be staged in Goulburn on Friday, 28 March.

St John’s Cross Country Carnival — @ Kembla Joggers

Our whole school Cross Country Carnival will take place on Monday, 24 March at Integral Energy Park. Please check the COMPASS event for all details, including the start time and race order. Entries close on 17 March. Students are encouraged to wear a coloured T-shirt representing their House.

At the conclusion of the carnival, 1st–4th place ribbons will be awarded for all races, and we will announce the winning House.

To ensure the carnival runs smoothly, we need parent volunteers to serve as course marshals. If you are available to assist, please complete the relevant section on the COMPASS event. Volunteers will be stationed along the track, providing an opportunity to see your child run past. You may wish to bring a chair for your comfort. We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you on the morning of the carnival at 9:00am.

The Parents & Friends will be running a BBQ throughout the day:

• Sausage sandwiches – $3.00
• Poppers / Water – $2.00
• Please bring cash.

We look forward to seeing parents, grandparents, and carers come along and support our students!

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with a Disability (NCCD) takes place every year. St John's staff work consistently each year collecting and recording data about student goals and progress to be counted within the collection.

The NCCD is a collection that counts: 

• the number of school students receiving an adjustment or ‘help’ due to disability or learning difficulties 
• the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students. 
  

Students are counted in the NCCD if they receive ongoing adjustments at school due to disability. This ‘help’ allows them to access education on the same basis as a child without disability.  

• The NCCD uses the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.
• The Disability Standards for Education 2005 define ‘reasonable adjustment’ as an adjustment that balances the interests of all parties affected.
  

The NCCD process is a mandatory process which occurs throughout the year culminating in August when data is collected and schools provide this information to educational authorities. 

To commence this process for 2025, our teachers will be  hosting “Personalised Plan (PP)” meetings in Week 8 and 9 of Term One. If your child has a personalised plan due to specific learning needs you will be invited to a phone meeting to collaborate on goals and strategies to support your child in the school setting. These plans include uniquely tailored strategies collaboratively developed with students, parents, carers and at times external providers to address the diverse learning styles, strengths, and areas for growth that each student brings to the classroom. This highlights our commitment to providing an inclusive and supportive learning environment at St John's Dapto.

The following fact sheet provides parents with more detailed information on the NCCD process.

A Compass notification will be sent to parents and carers whose child will participate in a personalised planning meeting over the next week. 

If you have any questions or require any additional information please contact your child's classroom teacher

Year 6 Leadership Day – Monday, 17 March

On Monday, 17 March, our Year 6 students will participate in an inspiring Leadership Day program, facilitated by Cameron Brown from Explore! Discover! Act. This exciting event will take place in the St John’s school hall and is designed to empower students as they embark on their leadership journey in their final year of primary school.

What to Wear:
Students are encouraged to wear comfortable mufti clothing suitable for a day of active participation. Enclosed shoes are required to ensure safety during physical activities.

Program Overview

The Leadership Day will focus on three key areas of growth:

Explore: Students will examine and process personal and shared leadership, fostering a deeper understanding of their role as leaders within the school community. Through team-building activities, they will develop a common leadership vocabulary and establish meaningful connections.

Discover: Engaging in hands-on challenges and reflective discussions, students will gain insight into their own leadership strengths. They will explore how leadership extends beyond titles, influencing daily thoughts, words, and actions.

Act: By applying their learning to real-life scenarios, students will be encouraged to take ownership of their leadership journey. The program will equip them with practical strategies, attitudes, and behaviors that they can implement in their school and personal lives.

Key Takeaways for Students

✔ Increased self-awareness and a stronger connection to others and the wider community.
✔ A deeper appreciation of how everyday choices reflect leadership.
✔ An understanding of teamwork and interdependence in achieving shared goals.
✔ A sense of confidence and empowerment to take on leadership roles authentically.

This promises to be an engaging, interactive, and thought-provoking day, helping our Year 6 students develop the skills they need to lead with confidence and integrity. We look forward to seeing them embrace this opportunity!

We've had a few issues this week with online messaging among students, so it's a great time to remind families about safe and responsible online communication. Apps like TikTok, Kids Messenger, and other messaging platforms can be fun but also come with risks. We encourage parents to have regular conversations with their children about online safety, setting boundaries, and knowing who they’re chatting with. For helpful tips and resources, visit https://www.esafety.gov.au.

On Thursday, 20th February, and Friday, 21st February, we held Parent Education Reading Workshops; the workshop was developed to support your child as they learn to read. Both workshops were well attended by our parent community. Thank you to those parents who were able to join us. We have included a pdf of the slides presented below and we will send home a link of the presentation via compass for those who would still like to view it and were unable to attend.

Parents were shown the new home reader texts and explained the process for home reading that aligns with our revised K-2 NSW English Syllabus. The focus is on building strong foundations in the areas of oral language, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, phonic knowledge, fluency and comprehension. The use of decodable texts both for classroom and home reading use will be implemented this year and supported by class assessments aligned to our K-2 Scope and Sequence of GPCs.

Please keep a look out for Parent Literacy and Reading tips in each newsletter and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to speak to your child’s class teacher.

Mrs Melissa McEntee, Mrs Belinda Evans & Mrs Fran Berringer

Reading practice at home is invaluable to a child’s development. Research has shown that one-on-one reading time and access to nursery rhymes, fairy tales, picture books and decodable texts are important for future literacy skills. 

Here are some parent tips to help support your child with reading at home.

• Set up a time to read (perhaps before going to sleep).
• Talk about the pictures, illustrations and content in the book. Ask comprehension questions.  (What do you think the character will do?)
• Share different kinds of books and texts (picture story books, library books, informational books, magazine articles, signs in the environment)
• Read out aloud with expression. Use silly voices for funny characters to make the story come alive
• Help define new words that they don’t know to build their vocabulary
• Bring books everywhere!
• Read and share your favourite books over and over again and enjoy the experience! Reading is never finished. Let’s build a life-long love of reading.

The students in Years 3 and 5 will sit the 2025 NAPLAN papers in Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy from Wednesday 12 March to Monday 24 March. 

Except for the Year 3 Writing assessment (pencil and paper), all other assessments will be completed online at school using iPads. In preparation for NAPLAN, students will complete practise assessments so that they can get used to working within a locked down browser and using technology to complete the assessments. 

At this stage, the timetable for the assessments at St John's, Dapto are:

Wednesday 12th March - Writing Year 3 and Year 5
Thursday 13th March - Reading Year 3 and Year 5
Friday 14th March - Language Conventions Year 3 and Year 5
Monday 17th March - Numeracy Year 3 and Year 5

If students are absent for any of the assessments, there will be an opportunity for catch up days up until Monday 24 March. The teachers of Years 3 and 5 will take time to explain what NAPLAN involves, particularly to our Year 3 students who will be sitting the assessments for the first time. 

Throughout Week 7, we will be having our Term 1 Student Wellbeing Afternoons on the following dates:

·  Monday March 10th – Years 3 & 5

·  Tuesday March 11th – Years 4 & 6

·  Wednesday March 12th – Kinder, Year 1 & 2

Students will have the opportunity to choose and participate in a range of fun and engaging activities that promote their wellbeing. As part of these Wellbeing Afternoons, the students will be provided with a sausage sizzle for lunch. All sausages will be gluten free and gluten free bread will be provided for students with a gluten intolerance. If your child does not eat sausage sizzles or requires more food for lunch than this, please ensure that you pack extra food in their lunch box.

To add to the excitement, students are encouraged to wear mufti clothes to school on the day of their grade’s wellbeing afternoon. Please ensure that enclosed shoes are worn.

We would also like to thank the Parents and Friends Association for their continued generosity in funding the sausage sizzle again this term.

Students and staff at St John's Catholic Parish Primary School pulled on their gloves to clean up our school environment. We had a wonderful day conserving our environment and eliminating litter. Great work St John’s!!!

On Friday, 21 March, we will be celebrating Harmony Day by encouraging all students to come to school dressed in orange mufti clothes. Harmony Day is a day dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity, inclusiveness, respect, and a sense of belonging for all Australians. 

Here are some ideas for incorporating orange accessories:

• Ribbon
• Scarf
• Headband or hair accessories
• Socks
• Wristband
• Bow tie
• Hat

We sincerely thank the Catholic Education Office for generously purchasing and installing our new LED screen in the hall. The brightness and clarity are truly impressive, enhancing every presentation, assembly, and event. This incredible addition has already made a huge impact, and we are so grateful for your support in enriching our school community.

Help Needed for the Foods and Rides Night to go ahead in 2025

We are currently seeking enthusiastic and organised individuals to take on the role of Event Coordinators to form a Food & Rides Night Committee for this exciting occasion. The responsibilities will include coordinating with vendors, managing volunteers, overseeing logistics, and ensuring a smooth and enjoyable experience for all attendees. This is a fantastic opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to our school community.

If you are interested or know someone who would be perfect for it, please reach out to Jodie Maloney ph: 0404 846 106 by 28th February, or complete the form below. Together, we can create a memorable and fun-filled evening for everyone!

If you would like to be part of a committee to organise the 2025 Foods and Rides Night please fill in the form below.

We kindly remind you that when collecting your child from school, it is important that your vehicle is legally parked, and you personally enter the school grounds to collect your child/ren. This helps us ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students at St John’s. As school pickup times can be quite busy, improper parking can create congestion and safety concerns for both children and families. 

Car lines in both Jerematta and Werowi Street offer a convenient and safe drop-off and pick-up for families. For the efficient operation of this arrangement, there is a need for all parents/carers to adhere to road rules and our school practices, which have been developed with safety at the forefront of our planning. It is important that families accessing the convenience of car lines do so responsibly and in a safe manner.

Therefore, parents and carers are requested to;

• Display your family name upon approach.
• Follow the directions of staff at all times.
• Always move to the furthest point in the designated drop-off and pick-up zone.
• Not queue, blocking traffic flow in surrounding streets and roundabouts.
  
  

Regular police patrols ensure the safety of all in and around school zones; if you are operating contrary to the signage, you risk a substantial fine.

To request a family nameplate, parents and carers are invited to complete the online form.

Thank you for your cooperation and for helping us create a safe and efficient pickup process for all our families.

Please refer to the attached matrix for student and parent expectations for Afternoon Dismissal.

Reading K-2

K-2 teachers have participated in professional learning on the NSW English syllabus, focusing on phonics, decoding, and phoneme-grapheme correspondences. They are designing and implementing assessments to track student progress in hearing, identifying, and recording sounds in words, aligning with Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 outcomes. These assessments support targeted instruction in phonological awareness, blending, segmenting, and applying letter-sound relationships, ensuring all students build strong early reading and writing foundations.

Mathematics K-6 

Our teachers have been collaborating using the Backward Design model to identify the big ideas in a learning sequence and develop well-structured lessons that build conceptual understanding. This ensures that lessons are purposefully sequenced, with clear learning intentions and success criteria aligned to key mathematics focus areas.

As part of our Mathematics AIP goal, All students achieve relevant learning growth in Mathematics, our teachers are designing quality assessments to measure understanding, track progress, inform instruction, and meet student needs.

Throughout the year teachers have access to a variety of quality professional development opportunities. Casual teachers are employed to cover classes with the teacher ensuring the teaching program and routines are followed. Please see below for upcoming teacher professional learning.

“Those who dare to teach, never cease to learn”
John Cotton-Dana

To the following students who will celebrate their birthday in March — we wish you a very happy birthday and hope you have a great day.

Please visit our website to access our policies, procedures, and essential forms. These documents provide important guidance on our practices and expectations to ensure a safe and supportive environment. If you need assistance or have any questions, feel free to contact us.

Parish News

It was exciting to see many Kindergarten families at Mass on Sunday 23rd February for the blessing of the backpacks. Thank you to the Parish Pastoral Council who organised the morning tea and snow cones.

Fr Francis and the St John the Evangelist Parish Pastoral Council warmly invites all families to join in the celebration of the Eucharist. See below the times for Mass.

Saturday Vigil — 5pm

Sunday — 7:30am, 9:30am and 6pm.

See below for the latest Parish Newsletter

Wednesday, 5 March 2025 — 12.30 pm – 1.00 pm

Dream Big, Encourage Curiosity is a free webinar created to help parents and carers spark early career curiosity in their children by encouraging them to explore a wide range of professions. The webinar will show parents creative ways to nurture their child’s interests and imagination, and introduces them to interactive tools and resources through the Beyond platform.

NSW Group 2025

NSW Group 2025 702.22 KB

Port Kembla After School

Port Kembla After School 1.07 MB

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